Name/Title
Scrimshaw: Ship Flying American Flag and Woman Holding FlowerEntry/Object ID
2025.06.05.02Description
Scrimshaw (carved whale tooth) depicting a full-rigged ship flying an American flag on one side and a woman holding a flower on other. The artist used at least four colors to create this scrimshaw--red, green, yellow, and black.Use
The making of scrimshaw began on whaling ships in the late 18th century and survived until the ban on commercial whaling. It was a leisure activity practices by sailors who had an abundance of raw material (whale products) available.Context
Scrimshaw is scrollwork, engravings, and carvings done in bone, ivory, or whale products such as teeth and baleen. Typically it refers to the artwork created by whalers, engraved on the byproducts of whales. It is most commonly made out of the bones and teeth of sperm whales, the baleen of other whales, and the tusks of walruses. It takes the form of elaborate engravings in the form of pictures and lettering on the surface of the bone or tooth, with the engraving highlighted using a pigment, or, less often, small sculptures made from the same material. (Some content from Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scrimshaw)
"Scrimshandering, as the whalemen called it — making scrimshaw — was an indigenous and exclusive shipboard art of the deepwater trades, practiced mostly by whalers but also occasionally by navy tars and merchant seamen. The whalemen’s practice of engraving pictures on whale ivory, walrus ivory, baleen, and skeletal bone originated in the late Colonial era, almost precisely coevally with the beginnings of whaling out of New Bedford; it matured in the 1820s and ’30s, as New Bedford itself ascended to dominate whaling worldwide; it continued well into the 20th century, right up to the collapse of conventional hand-whaling on sailing ships and rowboats; and, reborn among the “modern” whalers on mechanized floating-factory whaleships and shore stations, it persisted throughout most of the 20th century."
SOURCE: New Bedford Whaling Museum (https://www.whalingmuseum.org/exhibition/scrimshaw/)Inscription/Signature/Marks
Type
handwrittenLocation
Historic Card CatalogTranscription
FRONT
"Pair of Whales Teeth
Scrimshaw in red green yellow and black.
Ship American showing ports for broadside of 7 guns.
Name on pennant at (main) top.
Young woman holding flower. Birds picking grapes at right. "
BACK
"From W.S Mills.
Length Circum Weight"Notes
Card contains provenance info.Type
EngravingLocation
Engraving of shipTranscription
The pennant is flying the letters “ SO AM CA”. A previous researcher noted on a display card that the ship is a depiction of the “ whale ship South America” which accounts for the letters.Type
EngravingLocation
Inside of toothTranscription
“W.S. Mills”Lexicon
Nomenclature 4.0
Nomenclature Tertiary Object Term
ScrimshawNomenclature Secondary Object Term
CarvingNomenclature Primary Object Term
SculptureNomenclature Class
ArtNomenclature Category
Category 08: Communication ObjectsLOC Thesaurus for Graphic Materials
CarvingDimensions
Height
6-3/4 inWidth
3 inDimension Notes
hollow insideLocation
Location
Cabinet
Display Case 6Room
Charles Whipple Greene Historical CollectionBuilding
George Hail Free LibraryDate
June 5, 2025Condition
Overall Condition
Very GoodProvenance
Notes
Card found in Historical Card Catalog indicates item was given by W.S. Mills. No date provided.Research Notes
Research Type
ResearcherPerson
Suzanne Reynolds-AlpertDate
Jun 10, 2025Notes
No initial luck finding info. on a historic Warren individual named "W.S. Mills" or "William Wills" who gifted item. A previous researcher interpreted the name inside the tooth as “Millis”.Create Date
June 5, 2025Update Date
July 17, 2025
